This past week I've been blazing through Paradise City, where I can confirm with confidence that the girls are
pretty and the grass is indeed rather
green. Since Tuesday, I've clocked in more than 40 hours in the game, and have managed to
100% complete the single player mode, completely on my own. I didn't use any guides, or even freeburn online (to search for collectables with my friends). That being said, there are places where you can get info on where to
find what you're missing, but I can tell you from first-hand experience that you don't
need to. Also, you're a sissy if you do.
Along the way, a few queries raised in my
previous article have been resolved. First off, Criterion did something very right with the in-game collectables, like the Super Jumps, Smashes and Billboards. If you pause the game, and select the "Discovery" panel below your License and Records, it actually breaks up the 50 Jumps, 400 Smashes and 120 Billboards across the 5 districts of the landscape. This gives you a basic idea of not just what you’ve got left to find, but also where to find it. I was able to find my last Smash in Harbour town on Hubbard Ave (shout out to my Hubbard Ave homies), no less, and both my final Super Jump and Billboard in scenic Palm Bay Heights (I have no homies in Palm Bay Heights).
Also, in regards to the confusing "Paid and Displayed" Achievement, you get it for finding all the Car Parks (apparently “Pay and Display” is a slogan for parking garages in the UK. Who knew?). I still think it's pretty stupid to have a pseudo-secret Achievement directing people to the official website to figure out what it is (especially when said website gives no information regarding the damn Achievement). They could have just told us to find the car parks, much like "Shopaholic" does, which tells us to find all Drive Throughs
and Car Parks. Apparently Car Parks are important to this game (Protip: They actually
are in Stunt Run events). Also, for the record: "Parallel Park", "Spinning Around", and "Daredevil" are all obtainable in Big Surf with the first car you get, so don't be discouraged.
On a whole, I liked the way the single player Achievements were spread out. There were ones for each Driver’s License, introductory and completion-based Achievements for all the event types/collectables, and some extracurricular ones for exploring and doing specific stunts. Though you can acquire some while Freeburning online or during racing, there are 35 Achievements unlockable offline, worth a grand total of 715 Gamerscore. The other 15 online-based ones seem to be pretty easy to nab, Vision Camera Mugshots notwithstanding. All that being said, I can safely recommend Burnout Paradise to fans of the franchise and Achievement Whores alike, as not only is it balls-to-the-fucking-wall fun, but doesn't totally
bork the Achievements like the Need for Speed franchise has.
For those of you looking to get the full 1000 Gamerscore in Burnout Paradise, you're facing a moderate challenge. It took me 43 hours to get all of the single player Achievements. From what I can tell with the online Achievements, you'll need to play at least 50 races to get "Hotshots", "Online and Kicking" and hopefully "Online Champion" along the way. The most time consuming thing online would be the Challenges. There are 50 per party size, (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 players), for a total of 350 Challenges, though you only need to complete 250 to get the full 1000. These require co-operation and skill to pull off in the later Challenges. Rallying up enough people who want to do the 7 or 8 player challenges could be a bitch, but I think we should arrange some times to hop on together and play. Let me know in the comments if you're interested, and keep an eye on my
Journal for set up
play dates. In closing, those familiar with the Burnout franchise should feel right at home with Paradise, and with the proper time, effort, and equipment (looking at you Mr. Vision Camera) you'll have your 1000 Gamerscore.
